HANKOW
855.
and the establishment of adequate godown facilities are of paramount importance, and measures calculated to improve existing conditions in this respect deserve favourable consideration. Plans for the new Custom House have been prepared and work on the foundations has begun. The building designed is a handsome granite-faced structure, a conspicuous feature of which will be a central clock-tower some 150 feet high, and it will be erected on the enlarged site at the extreme southern end of the British Bund on which the temporary Custom House (old British Municipal building) formerly stood. It is expected that building operations will be complete, and that the building will be ready for occupation, about the beginning of 1924.
The Bund affords a very fine and pleasant promenade, and has an imposing appearance from the river. There are a large Roman Catholic and small Protestant and Greek churches, the last-named a rather handsome structure built by the Russian residents. Several brick-tea factories owned by Russians are located in the Settle- ment, all of which were closed early in the War and have not been re-opened. France, Russia and Japan have since 1895 acquired concessions along the river front. The British concession has been extended, but the Russian concession was taken over by the local authorities on November 1st, 1920, and placed under the control of the Chinese chief of police of Hankow. The French, Japanese and British have Municipal Councils. Thus while there was formerly a bund of only half a mile in length in front of the British concession, there is now a continuous line of concessions- measuring in all over two miles of river frontage. Houses and godowns have been springing up fast of late years, especially in the British concession, the oldest. section, which is changing rapidly, as stated above. The China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company, having completed their new and extensive bunding, started to build handsome new offices for themselves in 1919, and these were completed. in December, 1920. Messrs. Butterfield & Swire have erected a four-storey reinforced concrete godown on the site of their old office, and have further improvements in mind. Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., have put up a very fine modern four-storey reinfor- ced concrete godown, on the site of the buildings destroyed by fire in 1917, the total measurement of the building being approximately 74,772 square feet. The English Church was re-built, and consecrated in May, 1904. A new Union Church was built in 1916-17 in the French Concession, and opened in April, 1917. The new British school building was occupied at the end of the summer holidays in 1920 and is a vast improvement on the former accommodation.
The native city of Hankow was burnt by the Imperialist army in October, 1911 and a population of about 800,000 were thereby rendered homeless. At the end of 1914 it was estimated that fully 80 per cent. of the burnt area had been reconstructed, though unfortunately on the old lines, all the laudable plans for modernising the city having fallen through, owing to difficulties in obtaining the necessary funds. During. 1919 large tracts of land in the back of the native city were reclaimed and several new roads were constructed. A scheme for the development of a Greater Hankow has been started with the backing of the Government. This new scheme can be roughly outlined as follows. The first step will be to develop the land between the Foreign Concessions and the Ching-Han Railway embankment. A boulevard is planned to start from the Yangtsze bank, north of the Japanese Concession, and run west to the railway embankment. It will then be continued alongside the embankment until it reaches point opposite
a
the Hankow Waterworks tower, where it will turn east and run into the existing road near the tower. Ultimately an attempt will be made to extend it from the water-tower, through the city, to the Yangtsze. This area will be intersected by streets and properly laid out for building purposes, with a complete drainage system. The second step of the scheme will be to develop the land on the west side of the Ching-Han Railway embankment from the vicinity of the foreign racecourse, past the Chinese racecourse, up to Kiaokow. The third step will be the development of the remaining land up to the dyke. A railway along the dyke, connecting with the Ching-Han line, will be constructed and circular passenger trains started. Plenty of room will thus be provided for cheaply-built houses to accommodate workmen and the poorer Chinese classes. At present, owing to the rapid expansion of Hankow, the housing problem is a serious one, and rents have increased two and three-fold since the Revolution in 1911. Plans for a railway siding into the British Concession have been agreed upon and will probably soon be given effect to. The railway siding leading from the Peking-Hankow Railway's main line to the heart of the British Concession has been completed. This, in conjunction with the siding terminating at the ex-German Bund, enables the merchants to have produce transported to their very doors from the interior.